Skip to main content

Chicago Implements Expansive Predictive Scheduling Ordinance


Last month, the Chicago City Council approved what many have called the most expansive predictive scheduling ordinance in the country, the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance.  Set to take effect July 1, 2020, the Ordinance will apply to many workers in the city.

Who the Ordinance Covers

Of note, the City's Ordinance will apply to salaried employees earning no more than $50,000.00/year and hourly employees earning no more than $26/hour and who work in the building services, healthcare, hotel, manufacturing, restaurant, retail, or warehouse services industry.  The Ordinance applies to employers with more than 100 employees globally of which 50 of those employees meet the criteria of being covered by the ordinance.  For those employers in the restaurant industry, the threshold is 250 employees and 30 locations globally, and franchises with 4 or more locations in Chicago.

Ordinance Requirements

Now for the part that many employers and employees are likely looking for...what does the Ordinance require?  In short, starting July 1, 2020, covered employers will be required to provide those employees covered by the Ordinance with 10 days notice of work schedules.  (Starting July 1, 2022, that notice increases to 14 days.)  At the time an employee is hired, employers will be required to provide a good faith estimate of the protected days and hours of work for the first 90 days of employment.

For changes made after the notice deadline, a covered employee will have the right to decline any previously unscheduled hours.  As well, a covered employee will also have the right to decline a shift with less than a ten hour break from their last shift.  If the employee chooses to work that shift, the employer will be required to pay that employee 1.25 times their regular rate of pay.  For those employers that alter a covered employee's schedule after the deadline, the employer will be required to pay the employee one extra hour of pay (in addition to the employee's regular compensation.)  In the event a shift is canceled or reduced with less than 24 hours notice, the employer will be required to pay the employee at least 50% of their regular rate of pay for any scheduled hours.

Exceptions

Of note, there are exceptions carved out, including if a schedule is changed due to civil unrest or threats, utility outages, acts of nature; a mutually agreed upon shift trade or coverage arrangement between covered employees; if the covered employee and employer mutually agree and confirm in writing; and if a covered employee requests a shift change.

Penalties For Ordinance Violation(s)

Each violation of the Ordinance carries a fine of between $300 and $500.  If an employer discriminates or retaliates against an employee for exercising any right as provided by the Ordinance, the fine could increase to $1,000.00.

Given that employers in Chicago have less than a year to ensure compliance with this predictive scheduling ordinance, I would suggest steps be taken now to start implementing a policy to ensure a violation does not occur.  Afterall, the penalties could get to be quite costly.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Senator Bernie Sanders To Introduce Bill Requiring Large Corporations To Pay For Federal Assistance Programs

Next week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is set to introduce legislation which would require large employers such as Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald's to fully cover the cost of food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, and other federal assistance programs that their employees receive.  Senator Sanders has stated that the goal is to force these large employers to pay their employees a living wage and cut back on the nearly $150 billion in taxpayer dollars that go toward funding these federal programs every year. As for the specifics, a 100% tax on government benefits received would be imposed on government benefits received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees.  For instance, if a Walmart employee received $500 in food stamps, Walmart would be taxed $500. To call this proposed legislation groundbreaking would be an understatement.  I would expect that Senator Sanders, an Independent that caucuses with Democrats, is going to face an uphill battle gett...
Post a Comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more